1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a composition determination device and a composition determination method which are configured to perform a process with respect to composition including image contents, for example, using image data as a target. Further, the present invention relates to a program for execution of sequences demanded for the composition determination device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Composition setting is an example of a technical factor in taking a photograph which makes a good impression. Here, “composition” is also referred to as “framing”, and represents arrangement of a subject inside a screen such as a photograph.
There are several basic techniques generally available for good composition, but a general camera user does not simply take a photograph having good composition unless the user has sufficient knowledge and skill with respect to photography. Thus, there is a demand for a technique which can enable users to obtain, for example, a photographic image having good composition in an easy and simple manner.
For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 59-208983 discloses a technique of an automatic tracking device which detects the difference between images with a predetermined time interval, calculates the gravity center of the difference between the images, detects a movement amount and a movement direction of a subject image with respect to an imaging screen from a movement amount and a movement direction of the gravity center, and controls an imaging device to set the subject image within a reference region of a photographing screen.
Further, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2001-268425 discloses a technique of an automatic tracking device which, at the time of automatic tracking of a person, can perform tracking so that the position of the upper 20% of the person among the area of the entire image of the person in an imaging screen comes in the center of the imaging screen, so that the face of the person comes in the center of the screen, to thereby perform the tracking while firmly photographing the face of the person.
From the viewpoint of composition determination, these techniques are configured to automatically search for a subject such as a person and to arrange the subject in an imaging screen with a certain set composition.